Lemmings

Who hasn't heard about Lemmings? It's almost as if they should be included in history books. The little green-haired critters conquered the gaming world in 1990 and gamers all around the world remember the times when losing a Lemming ruined their day. The whole puzzle game got portable now, it has a PSP version to be more precise, but just as fun as the original version.

Story Team 17 has done it again! Besides creating Worms, and the follow-ups, Lemmings is the other rabbit that this producer pulled out of the hat. 15 years may have passed since Lemmings surfaced, but the remakes, sequels or ports continue. Since we're dealing with a puzzle game you won't hear much of a story, as this is not Zelda. It's just "save the lemmings" all the way.

Concept Lemmings is a brilliant puzzle-strategy game featuring the green-haired critters we adored in the 1990s. The purpose of the game is saving a group of lemmings from a cruel death within the time limit by using their abilities. And it's not just two or three, as there even might be 50 of them at some point. To me, Lemmings is a combination between Worms and Abe's Exodus. It's Worms, because of the implementation of abilities for a couple of merry dudes walking around and screaming funny stuff. It's also Abe's Exodus because of the need to rescue beings, little helpless ones. In Abe there were Mudokons, here they are Lemmings. Which is better? Let the games begin!

The environments are simple and Team 17 wanted the game to be the old-fashioned way so they kept the original levels and a added a few more. It all sums up to about 120 levels of pure fun, plus 36 special levels. You can choose between four play modes, ranging from fun to tricky, taxing or mayhem. If all the tasks for the lemmings are set and you want to get out and have a beer there is no use to leave the PSP to do the job for you. By pressing the circle button you'll have the chance to fast forward all the action. You can even freeze it, for that matter, to get a better look at the opportunities that the level offers you. That's what the start button is for. Zoom is also available if you press the triangle button and you'll need it (not insulting anyone, but aren't those little green guys a bit too small?). You'll charge one of the lemmings with the task by pressing the X button and moving a cursor over him while selecting the thing to do with the L or R buttons.

Gameplay The gameplay won't be infernal, but not quite a ball. Most of the levels will have 50 to 100 lemmings to be saved, but the ones in Special Mode will only have 12 little guys to sacrifice or rescue. You, also known as the God of Lemmings (the gamer for us), can choose what you want each lemming to do. The menu of choice is similar to the one in Worms, there is a sort of a table at the bottom of the screen with the abilities all lined up. Pick one and make your lemming a basher (horizontal digger), a blocker (a little guy standing still, blocking the others' paths), a bomber (kamikaze type of critter, gone in 5 seconds with a boom) or a floater (jump from high above performing a Mary Poppins act- umbrella included). Oh, did I forget to mention the builder?

To me, those are the most crucial of all the abilities; they're about building walls or stairs that will aid you in the task of saving the lemmings. You won't start by sweating and tormenting your brain with impossible ways of saving private Lemming. There will be some basic tutorials at first, teaching you how to dig, climb, float or build walls and stairs.

There are restaurants in the world where the owners decided that customers can make their own pizza. Team 17 decided that you can make your own levels and implemented a level design tool. It has tons of options and downloadable content.

You can assemble pipes, columns, platforms, walls and all sorts of gadgets to make any lemming's life a living hell. You can also choose between an Egyptian, Roman, Hell or Crystal setting for the background, each with their unique looks and sounds. The gamer's worst enemy has got to be the time limit. There is no AI here, considering that this is a strategic puzzle game and the only instructions you have to follow are "save the green dudes within the time limit". That about 8 or 9 minutes, it's not very much, but it's not like it's a blink of an eye.

Video There was not much of a change needed for a classic like this. The original graphics (with a bit of a modern touch) would have been OK. The PSP does extremely well with adapting the old graphics and adding some polish to them.

The levels are arranged into five themes: crystal, earth, egypt, hell, roman, each with the details that come with the name. Hell will have flames drawn all over the place, Egypt will have collumns and lots of yellow and orange and I could go on about this for days. Size matters, Team 17! It does when talking about the lemmings, that are way too small for the PSP screen. They might have been small for the first PC screens, but why go cheap with the pixels on these marvelous creatures? Their animations are pure fun, those Worms-like ways of dying.

Sound The funny thing is that I played the game in a room full of people and when they heard the squeaking sound that announced the death of my beloved critters they asked me: "Are your lemmings dying?" Through the years, there are some sounds that remain in your memory whether you like it or not.

I first played an Egyptian level in Lemmings and I thought about turning the volume up and it was surely worth it. The Arabic (was it Egyptian?) music really gave a little je-ne-sais-quois to that level, and almost made me forget that my Lemmings were dying. The lemmings' voices will haunt you, as they tend to get a bit repetitive, but not disturbing considering that they are cute and childish.

Conclusion When I was growing up I had that stupid hobby of playing with the ants like all kids do: burn them with a magnifying glass, drown them or just squash them (insect cruelty?). Then Lemmings came along, but they were not ants, although almost as fun to kill. Conscience got to me when I saw their innocent faces on the cover of the game and realized that the purpose is rescuing them from certain doom. I made peace with the ants through the Lemmings and now my conscience is clean! This puzzle game saved thousands of ants...think about it!